Field Trip to the Seattle Aquarium

I went to the Seattle Aquarium with Gwen and some classmates on Wednesday, February 28th. We arrived at the aquarium at 10am and left at 2pm. For the major of our time at the aquarium, it was rainy and cloudy, it was pretty cold throughout the day as well. I chose to go on this trip because I don't remember going to the aquarium, as my dad used to take my sister and I when we were much younger. I also thought it would be nice to see the animals at are in the ocean around us.

When you first walk into the actual aquarium there's an exhibit called "Life on Edge". this exhibit features various "tide pools" with different types of species that you would find in the shallower parts of the Puget Sound.  Here we saw and touched sea urchins, sea stars, sea cucumbers, scallops, small species of fish, sea anemones, and many other animals. I chose to specifically look at four different organisms and look at the way they survive in the ocean. The first organism was the sea star. They have adapted to resist desiccation by shrinking to adapt to the environment and its exposure to the sun and other sources of light. they respond to wave action by suctioning to whatever surface they are on. In the tidal pool, they were suctioned to the bottom of the pool and the rock walls. We were in the exhibit during feeding time in which the seat stars were given "restaurant quality mussels"! With the way sea stars move, I didn't see them actually eat the mussel but the volunteers kindly showed us a video of just how sea stars eat using their beak, located on their underside. The second organism was a sea anemone. These animals are so cool! Some you would touch and it wouldn't feel like you were touching anything, while others you would feel the suction of the tentacle. In both cases they would suction, it was just a matter of feeling it or not. The base of the anemone is sessile so the only parts that actually move are the tentacles and this is how to they have adapted to wave action. Sea anemones are filter feeders and absorb whatever small organisms like plankton come their way. The third organism was a scallop. These organisms have really shiny eyes at the edge of their shell. They adapted to wave action and resist desiccation in the same way of keeping their shell closed. These organisms filter feed just like the sea anemones do with how they absorb their food. The fourth organism was the hermit crab. Hermit crabs are crabs that use shells to protect their body instead of a hard shell like the average crab. They use these shells, which are often referred to as their mobile home, to resist wave action and desiccation. Feeding also included feeding the hermit crabs. The volunteer gave them a piece of fish which was also restaurant quality and they would break off small pieces of fish with their claws and feed it to themselves.

The next exhibit we went to was the "Birds and Shores" exhibit. This was an outdoor exhibit with a net covering the open space so the birds wouldn't fly out. The birds use the shores, beaches, and cliffs. for building nests and getting foods. Different birds have different beak sizes. Coastal erosion and shoreline modification have an impact on shorebirds in that erosion makes their habitat filled with pollutants and get disturbed by human intervention.

The final exhibit we went to was the "Salmon in Our Watershed" exhibit. this exhibit was specific to the salmon in Puget Sound and the hazards they face as they migrate through our local watershed. Some of the hazards the salmon have faced in our area are being overfished to the point of near extinction in the early years of the Pacific Northwest. Salmon have also faced heavy metal poisoning such as recently with lead being dumped into the ocean and being consumed by plenty of fish in the area. There is also the problem of temperature for salmon, they won't move upstream if the temperature of the water is too warm which means they won't lay their eggs to reproduce and increase the population.

The aquarium was a great place to go see many different species from the marine-based phyla we have been discussing in class such as the sea stars (echinoderms) and the jellyfish and sea anemones (cnidarians) which we don't normally see. I would've never known that sea anemones have the strong suction that they do. This experience changed my perspective of animal biology because I was able to see first hand (to a certain extent) of exactly how these animals survive underwater, which is something you wouldn't see as a person who isn't a diver or a marine biologist. The most interesting thing I learned while at the aquarium is that scallops have eyes and a lot of them! Just looking at a scallop I hardly noticed them, but when it was pointed out to me by one of the volunteers I was astounded by the fact that have eyes as I have never thought of it before.

There were tons of salmon in the tanks of the "Salmon in Our Watershed" exhibit. 

Not sure what species of fish this was, but it was just hanging around the underwater dome, living life to the fullest, clearly😂😂

The weather was pretty cold in the "Birds and Shores" Exhibit so a couple of birds decided to stand under a heat lamp! 

In the "Life on Edge" exhibit, there was a ring that jellyfish just swam around in.
It was interesting to be that close without the worry of getting stung!

The tide pool that the sea stars were in.
This was taken during feeding time so theres a couple mussels in there with them.

There was a little exhibit dedicated to the orcas, one of my favorite animals! (Picture taken by Mackenzie)